^lyUrX. 






3: Q^: ■ , 



/ 




SERMON 



OK THE DEATH OF 



HON. HARRISON GRAY OTIS. 



E 

OsLs 



\ 



'tj? 




fe\^ 





Class „i£lBLi^ 
Rook OtL'2 



^sS'-O 



THE STAY AND THE STAFF TAKEN AWAY. 



SERMON 




PREACHED 



^«A.T THE CHURCH IN BRATTLE SQUARE, 



Oy THE DEATH OF THE 



HO^ . H AKRISON GRAY OTIS, 



NOVEMBER 5, 1848. 



• • • 



BY S. ld-i*6THMv''.^ *••••• 



PASTOB-eJ^ TH£. CHURCH. 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



• 



BOSTON: 

1848. 

EASTBURN'S PRESS. 



tL-5 4-0 




i4. E.Hist.Greal. ioo. 



• • •.. 

• • • I 



# 



SEEMON. 




ISAIAH in. 1, 2, 3. 

FOR BEHOLD THE LORD DOTH TAKE AWAY FROM JERUSALEM THE STAV AND THE STAFF 

THE PRUDENT AND THE ANCIENT THE HONORABLE MAN, THE COUNSELLOR AND THE 

ELOQUENT ORATOR. 



The contemplation of human society leads directly 
to the contemplation of God, as its author and preserver. 
To every reflecting mind it suggests the existence of 
some power more than human, by which it is ordered 
and controlled. As a subject of study and investigation, 
it is grand, solemn, and, in some respects, mysterious and 
unfathomable, presenting, in all its aspects, points of 
deep and moving interest. Its vastness, its continuance 
amidst perpetual changes, its various conditions and mul- 
tiplied occupations, — all in a measure happy, all to 
some extent directly opposed, yet all harmoniously 
blending, — its evils and abuses and their remedy — 
its peace, prosperity, and improvement, and the best 
modes of promoting them, — the causes of its present, and 
the influences that are operating to determine its future 
condition, — these are themes that sometimes baffle hu- 
man judgment and bid defiance to human Avisdom. The 
original institution of civil government is veiled in dark- 



ness, and the legitimate sources and limits of its author- 
ity are matters yet in dispute. After ages of experience, 
with the recorded study and conjecture of untold genera- 
tions before them, men are not agreed as to some of the 
first principles of their association in civil communities. 
Contradictory theories are urged and advocated ; legisla- 
tion appears to be only a series of experiments and gov- 
ernment a continued struggle ; and if men fall into their 
proper places, and communities are on the whole orderly 
and happy, it seems to be evidently owing, not so much 
to the influence of civil institutions, or the operations of 
reason and conscience, as to the hand of God guiding 
men's movements through the instinctive tendencies of 
their nature. 

We behold a vast multitude whom no man can num- 
ber. Their voice is like the sound of many waters. 
Their movement like the deep roll of mighty thunder- 
ings. They are perpetually changing, yet forever the 
same. The race faints not amid the ruin of its members. 
Death is continually striking, but his blows make no per- 
manent blanks, leave no lasting tokens of bereavement 
in society. As individuals the people are dust, as a body 
they are lasting as time. By the commingling of youth 
with age, a perpetual infusion of new life preserves the 
vitality, the even temperature, and the cheerfulness of 
society. As the human frame is constantly changing its 
particles but preserving its identity by something not 
subject to the laws of matter, so society is constantly 
changing its members, but preserving its identity. It is 
another, and yet the same. 



Again, we contemplate tliis vast multitude, and we fmd 
each one thinking, feeling, contriving, working, in the 
first instance and chiefly for himself His interests are 
in a measure opposed to every other man's interest. He 
has selfish ends, and pursues an unsocial path. When we 
look at the variety of human interests and pursuits, and 
consider the force of human passions and the prevalence 
of vicious principles and propensities, we are left to won- 
der that chaos does not come back upon the social 
world, and darkness overspread the great deep of men's 
minds and hearts. But, comparatively, it is seldom that 
convulsions and disorder disturb the elements of social 
peace and happiness. Men come forward and assume 
with ease and contentment their proper places in society. 
Like water, each finds his level, and, like water, each rises 
when a vacuum is presented. Genius walks forward 
with confidence and occupies without dispute the station 
for which its great and noble nature was created, while 
mediocrity finds delight in the home and the duties as- 
signed to it ; and all feel a secret, unseen web woven 
around them, whose bonds, gentle but indestructible, 
keep them in their proper place. All feel themselves 
carried steadily on through the violence of their passions 
and the tumult of their contentions to the great end de- 
signed by Infinite Goodness, the social happiness and 
progress of the race. 

Human legislation, — man's wisdom, — does not seem 
to be the chief, much less the sole instrument, by which 
this result is produced ; for, to a much greater extent 
than we imagine, the result is the same under all govern^ 



6 



ments, and may be found where legislation has been both 
weak and wicked. It is produced through God's provi- 
dence, who has formed man for society, and overrules him 
in it, appointing alike the good and evil that befall the 
individual and the race. Thus does the contemplation of 
society lead directly to the contemplation of God, as its 
author and preserver, the being, who, amid all earth's 
changes and fluctuations, amid all the various and doubt- 
ful aspects of human affairs, presides over mortal desti- 
nies, and causes the wrath of man to praise him, and the 
remainder of wrath restrains. 

These general reflections have been suggested by the 
events in Hebrew history connected with the text. In 
its original connection, what is here declared is prophetic. 
The words form part of that memorable passage, in which 
the prophet foretells the total ruin and destruction that 
should come upon the Hebrew nation, in rebuke and 
punishment for their sins. As a prophecy, the passage 
had its fulfilment in the Babylonish invasion and cap- 
tivity, and in the subsequent subjection of the Jews to 
the Persian, the Greek, the Roman power. By some 
critics it is regarded simply as a prediction of the first 
of these events ; by others, as having special reference 
to the last, — the complete destruction of Jerusalem by 
the Romans, and the dispersion of its people after their 
rejection and crucifixion of the Saviour. The fact that 
on the medal which Vespasian ordered to be struck in 
commemoration of that event, Jerusalem is represented 
in the very posture described by the last words of this 
chapter, — thnt of a disconsolate mother bewailing the 



unhappy fate of her children, — is regarded by some as a 
confirmation of this interpretation^, an evidence that in 
that early age the passage was considered to have its 
particular fulfilment in the Roman conquest. The ques- 
tion is not important, because in both cases the prophecy 
had its fulfilment; in both, the condition and sufferings of 
the Jewish people corresponded with the general predic- 
tions of the prophet. Among these sufferings, not the 
least was to be the loss of all their great men, — the men 
of eminent ability and talent, who were or had been the 
stay and staff of the community, competent to fill its 
high trusts and offices, and discharge the most important 
functions of civil and social life. " For behold, the Lord 
doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the stay 
and the staff, the mighty man and the man of war, 
the judge and the prophet, and the prudent and the an- 
cient, the captain of fifty and the honorable man, and 
the councillor, and the expert artificer, and the eloquent 
orator, and will give children to be their princes, and 
babes shall rule over them." 

To us, that portion of these verses which I have selected 
for the text, is not so much a prophecy as the expression 
of a fact, — a declaration which has its constant fulfil- 
ment in the orderings of God's providence in all commu- 
nities. Continually does he take away the stay and the 
staff, the great and the good, the men whose en- 
larged and comprehensive minds, whose far-seeing wis- 
dom, whose eminent talents and unbending integrity, 
have been the light and confidence of society, whose 
prudence and experience have been its guide in great 



8 



emergencies, whose firmness has maintained its rights, 
upheld and guarded its interests, for many years. They 
may be spared long, and permitted to do and enjoy much 
for themselves and others. They may pass the ordinary 
bounds of human life, may remain when most of their con- 
temporaries are gone, and, with a heart of youth in the 
frame of age, with the fire of a holy patriotism burning 
beneath the frosts of eighty winters, with a vigorous in- 
tellect, keen and sagacious, its clear vision undimmed, 
its strength unbowed, they may make themselves felt, and 
exert a wide and beneficial influence upon public and pri- 
vate affairs, up to the last hour of a long life. But that 
hour must come, and they must be taken away. 

"Who is the champion? who the strong? 
Pontiff and priest, and sceptred throng? 

On these shall fall 
As heavily the hand of Death, 
As when it stays the shepherd's breath 

Beside his stall " 

The death of the most humble individual has in it 
something solemn and affecting. While it is a bereave- 
ment to some fond hearts, crushing the hopes and de- 
stroying the happiness of some humble family, it is a 
lesson and a warning to all, proclaiming the universal 
dominion of death, teaching, what none doubt but few 
feel as they ought, that all are exposed to the same ca- 
lamity, that all are pilgrims and strangers on earth, lia- 
ble at any moment to have the tabernacle of flesh 
dissolved, and the soul summoned to another world. 
But when the Lord taketh away the stay and the staff, 
when the prudent and the ancient depart, when they whose 
wisdom has illumined the councils, whose genius has- 



adorned the annals of their country, whose names have 
been a power to stir men's sympathies, mould their 
opinions and guide their actions, who have filled a wide 
place in the community's regards, and been the admir- 
ation and the pride of many hearts, — when such die, 
the spectacle is deeply instructive and affecting. It is 
public proclamation, as it were, under the hand of God, 
of that declaration of the prophet, " all flesh is grass, and 
all the p;oodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. 
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the spirit 
of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is 
grass." 

Such proclamation has repeatedly been made to us of 
late. The year which is now approaching its close will 
never be forgotten by some here present, on whose hearts 
it has left the record of sad bereavement and deep pri- 
vate sorrow. Memorable throughout the world for the 
public convulsions which have shaken thrones and king- 
doms, it is even more memorable for the number of 
great and distinguished men who have departed this life 
since it commenced. They have been summoned from 
their earthly honor, station, usefulness, wealth, to pass 
within the veil, and render an account of the great stew- 
ardship intrusted to them. Our own country, especial- 
ly our own city and immediate neighborhood, aflbrd 
sad and signal illustration of this remark. Within a 
few months of each other, John Quincy Adams, Jeremiah 
Mason, Harrison Gray Otis, have gone down to the grave. 
They were among the few bright links that remained to 
connect us directly with the men of the Revolution. 



10 



Their lives covered the whole of our existence as an in- 
dependent nation. Their names were associated Mdth 
most of the important events in our history. Widely 
different from each other in the distinguishing traits, 
both of their characters and their talents, they were all 
eminent in the public services they had rendered, in the 
public influence they had exerted, in the honorable sta- 
tions they had occupied and adorned. The death of 
three such men, whose large experience, deep wisdom, 
varied learning, and elofjuent speech, had made them 
" the stay and the staff," burning and shining lights, in 
whom for so long a season we were permitted to rejoice, 
enables us to understand, to the full extent of its 
meaning, the declaration of the prophet in the text. 
Of these three distinguished persons, the last mention- 
ed was from childhood a worshipper, and for many years 
a communicant, at this church. His memory could recall 
the time when the foundations of these now venerable 
walls were laid. He sat at the feet of the third Pastor 
of this church, the celebrated Samuel Cooper, whose min- 
istry closed sixty-five years ago. Under his teachings he 
received his earliest religious impressions, and from his 
instructions, as well as from other influences amid the 
struggle of the Revolution, he imbibed those broad, gen- 
erous, elevated, liberal, political and religious principles, 
that formed his character and guided his conduct. For 
several years, through the infirmities of age, his dignifiBd 
fonn has seldom appeared in our assembly of worship- 
pers ; but to the last he retained a lively interest in our 
prosperity and welfare. Within the past week I have 



11 



followed his earthly remains to their last resting-place at 
Mount Auburn. His character and fame are public prop- 
erty. They belong to the city of which he was a native, 
to the state of which he was an ornament, to the country 
which he loved and served with his high capacities and 
in various stations, to the best of his ability and judg- 
ment. They belong to us, to this church and congrega- 
tion, to which for so many years he had been joined in 
the holy fellowship of Christian faith. For our own im- 
provement, and in just tribute to a name that will not 
soon be forgotten, I am prompted to speak of him, and to 
speak as he would have had me, truly and soberly. In 
one of my last interviews with him, not long before his 
death, he alluded to this point in reply to a question put 
by me, and gave expression to a thought which, previ- 
ously, I had not unfrequently heard him utter. "I could 
desire," he said " to pass away quietly and unnoticed ; 
but, if you think proper to say any thing about me when 
I am gone, say, as I am sure you will, the truth. Noth- 
ing true can be said about my character, or principles, or 
conduct, that I am afraid or ashamed to have said. There 
is little to extenuate, if nought be set down in malice." 
I shall hope not to forget or violate this injunction. 

The late Harrison Gray Otis was born in Boston on 
the 8th of October, 176 5. He was the descendant of a 
highly respectable family, that came to this country in 
1630, and settled in the neighboring town of Hingham. 
His father, Samuel Allyne Otis, was, in early life, an 
honorable merchant in this city, and, subsequently, the first 
Secretary of the Senate of the United States, under the 



12 



Constitution, which office he held till his death. He was 
less distinguished than his brother, the celebrated James 
Otis, to whose eloquence and efforts, the cause of Ameri- 
can Independence was so largely indebted, but much 
respected and honored as one of the intelligent and active 
patriots of the memorable period of the Revolution. His 
mother was Elizabeth Gray, daughter of Hamson Gray, 
a person of considerable distinction in his day. Mr. 
Gray's sympathies led him to side with the mother coun- 
try, in the struggle between her and her colonies. He 
resigned the office of Treasurer and Pteceiver General, 
which he had held for several years, and became what is 
known in our history as a Tory Refugee. He went first 
to Halifax, and thence to England, in the Spring of 1776. 
His daughter sympathized with her husband in his polit- 
ical principles and opinions, and many of the prominent 
traits of mind and heart, in the character of her son, are 
to be traced to her generous and noble spirit, and the in- 
fluence of her amiable and energetic qualities. 

Mr. Otis was prepared for college partly in Boston, 
and partly at Plymouth and Barnstable, passing a portion 
of his boyhood at school in these latter places.^ He was 
graduated at Cambridge at the age of eighteen, in 1783, 
receiving the first honors of a class in which were several 

* During the hvo months which intervened between the battles of 
Lexington and Bunker Hill, Mr. Samuel AUyne Otis removed his 
family to Barnstable, where they remained till after the British troops 
evacuated Boston in 1776. In one of her letters to her father, at 
this period, Mrs. Otis says, speaking of the subject of this notice, " I 
shall enclose you a letter from Harry of his own writing and inditino-, 
wliich will (.liable you to form some judgment of his genius, which hS 
tutor tells me is very uncommon." 



'»s 



13 



other men, who subsequently became eminent in public 
and professional life. Among them were the late William 
Prescott and Artemas Ward of this city, Ambrose Spen- 
cer of New York, and Wm. King Atkinson of New Hamp- 
shire. At college he was distinguished for his ready 
acquisition of some of the more abstruse departments of 
knowledge, for his rich attainments as a classical scholar, 
and, also for his very brilliant and graceful oratory. 
Even thus early it was said by his young friends, that the 
mantle of his eloquent uncle James Otis had fallen upon 
him, a declaration which was subsequently confirmed in 
the judgment of those, who in their youth heard the one 
and in their age listened to the other. 

Upon leaving college, Mr. Otis determined to devote 
himself to that profession which has given so many noble 
minds to the world, — a profession which, in its high pur- 
pose, aims to be the voice of calm reason, arbitrating 
among the concerns of men, a power to separate the 
problem from its accidents, to discern the principle 
amid the circumstances which obscure it, to ascertain and 
determine justice and right in the conflicts between man 
and man, — a profession which, for its best exercise and 
fulfilment, requires a rare combination of mental and 
moral qualities, and the complete command and frequent 
application of every intellectual faculty. The fact that 
Mr. Otis pursued his studies for this profession under the 
direction and influence of that distinguished patriot and 
jurist, the late Judge Lowell, is a sufficient evidence both 
of the thoroughness with which he studied Law, and of the 
high conceptions he entertained of the character, the 



.> 



14 



duties and obligations of his profession ; and, were other 
evidence of this wanting, it would be found in his early 
professional eminence.* Almost instantly upon coming to 
the bar, in a profession whose early paths are proverbi- 
ally rugged and thorny, and the ascent slow and difficult, 
his eminent talents, aided undoubtedly by the favorable 
circumstances of the times, gave him a rank among the 
very first; and, at an age when young men of the present 
day are well content to get any business at all, he was 
employed as senior counsel and advocate in many of the 
most important causes that came before the courts.! 
Li conducting these causes he displayed an extent and 
thoi'oughness of legal knowledge, a logical vigor and 
acumen, which sustained and constantly added to his 
reputation as a young man of talent ; while his winning 
and persuasive elocpence, investing the dry details of 
argument with the charm of classical allusion and appro- 

* la his boyhood, Mr. Otis had been promised, and had expected to 
pursue his legal studies at the Temple Inns, London, but the confis- 
cation of his grandfather Gray's property, and the derangement of his 
father's affairs, by the Revolution, compelled him to relinquish this 
anticipated privilege. 



R 



t The following incident is an evidence of his early success, and of 
'the confidence he inspired. A few weeks after he opened his office, 
the father of the late Mr. Abraham Truro, a gentleman still remem- 
bered in this city, needing the services of lawyer at an early hour in 
the morning, found none of the profession in their chambers but Mr. 
Otis, whom he consequently employed. Mr. Otis having at this time 
no books, and no other means of obtaining any, borrowed of Mr. Truro 
fifty guineas, which he expended in purchasing a law library. At 
the close of his first year's practice at the bar, the loan was repaid 
out of his professional income. 



15 



priate illustration, made him a favorite with the people, 
and gave him great popular influence. 

In alluding to tliis early period of his life, as compared 
with his political career, I have heard him express the 
passing regret, that he had not kept strictly within the 
walks of his profession, and sought there an eminence and 
usefulness, that might well satisfy the noble ambition of 
a noble mind. But this was probably only a momentary 
feeling. His Country, then a young Republic just 
launched into being, needed the services of all who could 
help to mark out and guide her course ; and whatever 
was the result of those services in his own case, he could 
not, and did not, on deliberate reflection, regret that he 
had rendered them. He resisted, however, for several 
years the repeated solicitations that were made to him to 
be a candidate for political office, and yielded to them at 
last in obedience to convictions of duty. In 1796, 
he was nominated one of the seven Representatives 
which Boston then sent to the Legislature of the State, 
and was returned by a large majority. 

Previous to his election to the Legislature there are 
two incidents in his life worthy of notice. One of these 
indicates the public estimation in which he was early 
held ; the other gives some intimation of his own moral 
principles and feelings at that time. In 1788, three 
months before he was twenty-three years of age, Mr. Otis 
was appointed to deliver before the authorities and citi- 
zens of Boston, the Fourth of July Oration. No one, I 
believe, has ever been called to perform this service, in 
this city, at so early an age. At that critical period in 



16 



our history, the oration on the Fourth of July was regarded 
as a much more important matter than it is now. It 
was, in foct, more important. It was a great occasion, 
and afforded one of the most direct and powerful means 
of influencing both the opinions and the feelings of the 
people on subjects of public and political interest. The 
appointment of Mr. Otis to this service, at so early an 
age, is conclusive evidence not only of the public respect 
for his talents, but also of the public confidence in his 
sound judgment and principles. In the winter of 1791 - 
92, an effort was made to repeal a statute then existing, 
which absolutely prohibited theatrical entertainments 
and exhibitions. Some of the most popular and influential 
men of the town were advocates for the repeal. Mr. 
Otis, with the venerable Samuel Adams and others, made 
strenuous efforts to resist and prevent the repeal, and 
they were successful in postponing it for several years. 

In 1796, Mr. Fisher Ames, who had represented this 
district in Congress from the adoption of the Constitution, 
having expressed his determination to retire at the close 
of his term, Mr. Otis was chosen to succeed him. It is no 
disparagement to the many able and distinguished men 
then living in this district, to say that one more worthy 
or better fitted to fill the place of such a man as Mr. 
Ames could not have been found. Questions of great 
moment agitated the public mind. The opinions, princi- 
ples and policy of the two great political parties that 
had grown up under the Constitution, and, in some mea- 
sure, out of the Constitution, had become more distinct 
and more at variance. While neither party was void of 



17 



anxiety or deficient in zeal, the federalists especially felt 
the necessity of selecting their very ablest men to take 
part in the national councils, and help sustain the policy 
disclosed and the measures pursued by Washington. 
Upon the maintenance of this policy, and adherence to 
these measures, they believed the peace and prosperity 
and glory of the country to depend. 

It was, therefore, no ordinary honor, no small distinc- 
tion, that, at such a critical period, and at the early age 
of thirty-two, Mr. Otis should have received this mark of 
public confidence, and been clothed with the high trust of 
representing, in the Congress of the United States, one of 
the most important commercial districts in the Union. 
That confidence was well repaid in the ability, firmness, 
and independence, with which he fulfilled the trust. He 
Avas among the most efficient members of the House dur- 
ing the time he held his seat.* On retiring from Con- 
gress, he resumed the practice of law in this city, and 
devoted himself assiduously to professional duty for sev- 
eral years. 

The political excitement and violent party spirit that 
prevailed over the land during the first fifteen years of 
the present century, were so great, that no man, however 
disposed to be quiet, could avoid participating in them, to 
some extent. The state of the country was too critical, 
and the measures pursued and the questions at issue too 



* Mr. Otis served two terms in Congress as Representative. To- 
ward the close of Mr. Adams's administration, he was appointed 
District Attorney, which office he hckl till Mr. Jefferson appointed 
the late George Blake his successor. 

3 



18 



important, for any good citizen, who felt his responsibili- 
ties, to remain an inactive and indifferent spectator. 
During all these years, therefore, whether in or out of 
office, Mr. Otis was active in political affairs. He was 
often a member of the Massachusetts Legislature, where 
he exerted a large influence upon the political action of 
the State. At different times he was repeatedly chosen 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and President 
of the Senate. We can readily believe the declaration, 
that he discharged the duties of Presiding Officer with 
an ease, urbanity, promptness and impartiality, that have 
seldom been equalled and never surpassed. He often 
left the chair to participate in debate, and thrill the as- 
sembly by an eloquence as manly and vigorous as it was 
polished and graceful. Among those with whom he sym- 
pathized, and in conjunction with whom he acted at this 
period, were such men as Theophilus Parsons, Nathan 
Dane, Fisher Ames, Rufus King, George Cabot, Thomas 
Davis, Christopher Gore, Samuel Dexter, William Pres- 
cott, John Brooks, John Phillips, Timothy Bigelow. It 
would be much to say of any man, and it is just and 
true to say it of Mr. Otis, that he possessed the confi- 
dence and friendship of these men. They put him for- 
ward as a leader on many important occasions. They 
had the highest respect for his intellectual ability, his 
wisdom and judgment as a statesman, his patriotism and 
his integrity. 

The important event in his life during this period, — the 
first fifteen years of the present century, — was his con- 
nection with the Convention which met at Hartford, in 



19 



December, 1814. Of this body he was a prominent 
member, and in the popular mind at the present day 
his name is more intimately associated with it than 
that of any other man. To enter into the details of 
this matter would not be proper on this occasion or 
in this place ; but in speaking of the public career 
of Mr. Otis, it cannot be passed over in entire si- 
lence. Without discussing, therefore, the wisdom or ex- 
pediency of the measure, I will briefly say, in justice to 
the motives and the memory of as patriotic and upright 
statesmen as ever trod the soil of New England, and 
as an expression of individual opinion, founded upon 
a somewhat thorough and impartial study of the history 
of that period, that I believe the object of that Conven- 
tion to have been to allay excitement among the people 
of New England, not to increase it, — to check any desire 
or tendency towards disunion that may have existed, not to 
encourage or promote it, — to protect the rights, the prop- 
erty, the interests and the homes of the people of the north- 
ern and commercial States, through the Government, acting 
in its legislative channels, and not to array these rights and 
interests against the Government, and thus bring in an- 
archy, rebellion and disunion. To this conclusion, I sup- 
pose candid and intelligent men of all parties at the pres- 
ent day are fast approaching, if they have not already 
reached it. The wisdom and policy of the measure will 
-always admit of question, but the time will come proba- 
bly, as the objects contemplated are better understood, 
when to have been a member of this Convention shall 
no longer be adduced as a stigma and reproach, but an 



20 

honor ; and it shall be generally admitted, that if censure 
and disgrace belong any where, they rightfully attach 
to those who, clamorous for the thing before it was held, 
were the first to cry out against, and the most persevering 
in their attempts to cry down, the men who personally 
took part in it. 

In 1814, the Legislature, to facilitate the administra- 
tion of justice, instituted a new Court, specially for 
the County of Suffolk, called the Boston Court of 
Common Pleas. Mr. Otis received the first appointment 
of Judge of this Court, and took his seat on the first 
Tuesday of jNIay, in that year. He remained on the 
bench nearly four years, resigning in April, 1818.^ 

In 1816, when Governor Strong signified his intention 
to retire from the Chief Magistracy of the Commonwealth, 
it was the wish of his friends to nominate Mr. Otis as his 
successor. But the war had terminated, peace was restored, 
and no particular emergency in the affliirs of the country 
or the Commonwealth existed. He would not permit his 
friends, therefore, to bring forward his name as a candidate. 

In 1817, Mr. Varnum's term in the Senate of the 
United States expired, and the Legislature, by a strong 
vote, chose Mr. Otis to represent the State in that high 
Council of the Nation. Here he fully maintained and 
added to the reputation he had acquired as an able states- 
man and a most eloquent orator. His speech in reply to 
Mr. Pinckney in the debate on the Missouri question, 
abounds in all the elements of the highest eloquence, and 
is on a level with the noblest speeches that have ever 

* lie was siicccoded by the late William Prescott. 



21 



been made in that august assembly. In his office of 
Senator, while he Avas faithful to all the broad, general 
concerns of the Nation, he was particularly faithful, ener- 
getic, and independent in watching over the interests of 
this Commonwealth, and in pressing its claims for com- 
pensation for expenses incurred during the war of 1812. 
He resigned at the expiration of the fifth year of his 
senatorial term, and, on the retirement of Governor Brooks 
from the Executive Chair in 1823, he became the candi- 
date of the Federal party for the office of Chief Magis- 
trate ; his competitor was the late Dr. Eustis. The elec- 
tion was closely contested, with considerable party excite- 
ment. Mr Otis failed, — a small majority of the popular 
vote being in favor of Dr. Eustis. In conversing with 
him once about this portion of his life, he said, " My failure 
in the Gubernatorial election of 1823 was a mortification, 
and a severe disappointment to me at the time, but I look 
back upon it now without regret. I regard it now as the 
most fortunate event of my life ; I have been a happier 
and better man since I was thrown out of political life, 
than I should ever have been had I remained in it." 

After this election, Mr. Otis retired from public life, 
save that he held for two or three years the office of 
Mayor of the city.^ For the last eighteen years he has 
lived wholly in the retirement of private life, in the 
enjoyment of a green old age and the society of his 
friends, in the exercise of a large, refined and graceful 
hospitality, — the pride, the ornament and the charm of 
the social circles in which he mingled. As a citizen 

* He was Mayor of the City for the years 1829, 30, 31. 



22 



and a man, he has always retained his interest in public 
affairs, and in whatever appertained to the good of 
this city, the Commonwealth, and the country at large ; 
and through his pen and the press he has occasionally 
given to the public his thoughts and opinions upon 
various subjects of public interest. His last act of this 
kind was his letter upon the Presidential election now 
pending, published only a few weeks ago. There will of 
course be differences of judgment as to the conclusions 
reached in this letter, and some dissent from them, but 
all will admit that it shows an unabated vigor of intellect, 
an undiminished ardor of patriotism, and is altogether an 
extraordinary production to come from the pen of any 
man at eighty-three years of age. This effort hastened 
perhaps an event that could not have been far distant ; 
sudden, unexpected and sad bereavement also helped to 
accelerate it. His strength failed rapidly, and, without 
any marked disease or severe suffering, he gently passed 
away, so calmly, so peacefully, that we may apply to him 
the words of the poet, so often applied to the death of 
the aged : 

" Of no distemper, of nn blast he died, 
But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed long, 
JE'n wondered at because he dropped no sooner ; 
Fate seemed to wind liim up to fourscore years, 
Yet freshly ran lie on three winters more, 
Till like a clock worn out with eating Time, 
The wheels of weary life at last stood still." 

Such, my friends, is a brief outline of the life of one 
widely known and highly honored, who has departed 
from among us. It would be dilficult to fill up the 
sketch and make it a full picture, by a just analysis of 



23 



his powers, and a faithful delineation of his character. I 
shall not attempt it. One or two things I feel prompted 
to say. 

There was so much grace, polish and beauty in every 
thing Mr. Otis said and wrote, that some, I think, have 
failed to do justice to his intellectual ability, have over- 
looked the vigor, grasp, comprehensiveness, and acute pen- 
etration of his mind. The action and play of his mental 
power were so easy, that one was apt to forget the pro- 
found and subtle nature of the subjects with which he was 
dealing. His power of nice analysis and sharp discrimi- 
nation was extraordinary, and the broad and deep wisdom 
of his thought was often as remarkable as the language 
in which he clothed it was brilliant and beautiful. 

It is worthy of observation that the great men of a 
city, those who are distinguished and influential in their 
day, are seldom persons born in it. They are persons 
born in the country, reared under other influences, and 
attaining distinction by a force of character which may 
be chiefly traced to these influences. 

Among the sons of Boston, those born within its limits, 
reared and educated under its influences, Mr. Otis, in the 
brilliancy and versatility of his talents, in his various 
accomplishments as a scholar and an orator, in all the 
attributes of a great mind, stands in the very first rank. 
It would be difficult to say who could rightfully stand 
before him. 

Again, there was so much courteousness and urbanity 
in his manners, that many who did not see him often and 
know him well, might be led to do injustice to his sincerity. 



24 



and to the real goodness and kindness of his heart. His 
heart was not without its failings, faults of temper and 
disposition, with which he had to struggle. These faults 
were not unobserved by others, or unknown to himself. 
In the unreserved and confidential intercourse to which 
he admitted me, he has sometimes spoken of them, and 
spoken of them in the spirit and with the humility of a 
Christian. Some of them were faults that leaned to 
virtue's side. 

The manners are in general an index of the heart. In 
Mr. Otis, that courteousness which an Apostle enjoins 
was, to a large extent, the fruit of that love and good 
wiU which the Saviour inculcates. He was a sincere 
man. He never forgot or deserted a friend. He never 
cherished and perpetuated an enmity. He was just and 
charitable in liis judgment of others, and, in his domestic 
relations, an example of all that was kind, tender, and 
affectionate. There is one strong manifestation of his 
sincerity in the undeviating uprightness and firmness of 
his public career. In this respect, that career was one of 
which no man need be ashamed. His ambition was not 
stronger than his principles, nor his love of office greater 
than his love of consistency and integrity. It is not too 
much to say of Mr. Otis, at least it may be regarded as 
probable, that, if at any time between 1800 and the close 
of the war of 1812, he had deserted his party and chang- 
ed his political relations, abandoned his former political 
opinions, (the temptation to do which was at one 
time presented to him in an alluring form,) his abil- 
ity, talents, manners, and many popular qualities, were 



25 



such, that he might have secured almost any politi- 
cal office he desired, might have gratified his highest am- 
bition, mi^t have reached, perhaps, the first and most 
august honor in the gift of the nation. But he would 
not do it. Through evil report and good report, through 
honor and dishonor, he clung to his political faith and 
principles ; and in so doing a distinguished name, which 
was identified with the cause of American liberty in its 
early struggle, has been left by him unsullied, to extend 
its inspiring influence to many generations yet to come. 

Brethren, there is nothing to lament or regret in the 
death of our distinguished fellow-citizen. He will be 
missed in the family circle where, though old, he was a 
stay and a staff, a centre of strong attraction, and a 
charm to unite all hearts. He will be missed in our pub- 
lic walks, for he was identified with much that was inter- 
esting and important in our history, — a link connecting 
us directly with the men of our Revolutionary struggle 
and heroic age, a representative of a class of which but 
one or two others remain, and which cannot be perpetu- 
ated, or come up again under the present forms and ten- 
dencies of society among us. But it was meet that he 
should depart. To his family there are abundant conso- 
lations in the memory of his life, and in the expressions 
of firm faith, and deep humility, and holy trust and hope, 
with which he met the approach of death. To all of us 
there are lessons of instruction and words of warning and 
admonition in his death. Let us not fail to gather them 
up and apply them to our hearts. 






LBJL'05 



